A Light Inside
by princessOFdarkeness
Summary: Sora and Kairi have always had each other, but who keeps Riku going? Follow Riku as he journeys through the realm of darkness, intent upon returning to the one he loves above all else! My first Fanfiction story, I hope you like it!


I had to fix those darn erros I made, so yeah. If you haven't read this story befre, cool. If you have, sorry to bother you its no different from before because it's a one shot!

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_**A Light Inside**_

_**By: PrincessOFdarkness**_

The door to darkness was shut, and Riku and the King had shut themselves behind it for the sake of all the worlds. The worlds were safe now, and Sora, Donald, and Goofy were in the realm of light to ensure that it stayed that way and that no more mayhem was caused. Together the five of them had saved the worlds from total disaster and destruction.

"But I tried to destroy them." Riku whispered, plopping down to sit by the only source of light - the door that led back to the realm of light, which was shut forever, never to be opened again. Riku drew his knees up to his chest, wrapping his well defined muscular arms around them. Riku was trembling slightly though it was not cold. It was out of fear for his very existance and the shame he felt for what he had done. "I helped and controlled the darkness that was destroying the worlds one by one. It's my fault all this happened. I chose to let Ansem into my heart, and he controlled me like a puppet because of it. I'm such a stupid idiot!"

"Oh Riku, its okay!" The Kin said, patting Riku brightly on the shoulder. Riku looked up into the face before him. The King's face was lit up by a bright smile that even the overwhelming darkness around them could not supress. It gave Riku hope, but that hope was faint. "You resisted the darkness within you Riku, and in the end you won it out over the darkness. Don't give up on yourself just yet."

"I just don't know what to do!" Riku shouted, pressing his face into his knees with a strange sound, halfway between a sob and a sigh. The King could not have seen that Riku was crying bitterly into his knees, as Riku had hidden his face from him, but Riku was sure the King knew he was. Riku didn't want the King to see him cry, crying wasn't something that tough-independent-boys-that-could-take-care-of-themselves were supposed to do. They jsut didn't.

"Come on Riku, lighten up a little!" The king wheedled kildly, trying desperately to cheer up Riku. It was hopeless however, no matter what the King tried or said, Riku would not cheer up. "We should go, go and get out of this place. Come on Riku! Let's get out of here, get out of this drak realm."

**(Riku POV)**

I looked up surprized. The King still wanted help me after all I had done? I couldn't believe my ears. Why would he still want to help me? I had worked against him and everyone else trying to protect the realm of light, I had been the enemy.

"Come on Riku, just follow your heart!" The King said brightly. I stiffened slightly as I stood up, and turned away from the King. How could I follow my heart after all it had done to me? I had let the darjness in and it had slowly consumed my heart and soul until there was barely anything left of them. I was weak and vunerable to the darkness, and i had almost killed HER because of it! HER, the one I had cared about above all others. She had always meant more to me and had always been more important to me that Sora, Selphie, Wakka, and Tidus. Even Kairi wasn't as important to me as SHE was, and as she always would be.

...And I had let her down, nearly killing her and leaving her to drown in her own cold blood that I had spilt in the process. When Sora had first come to save Kairi not so long ago at Hollow Bastion, she got in my way when all I had wanted was to kill Sora and end it, and she had stepped into my path to save Sora - and me. I didn't see her for what she was, so steeped in that darkness was my heart, and I struck her down with my dark keyblade, nearly killing her. If Sora hadn't taken her to Leon, Yuffie, and the other's as soon as he had woken up...

"I will, but I'm afraid it will be down a different path than you your Highness." I mumbled, turning back to the King. I smiled down into the King's worried face, unsure of what to say or how to break it to him. I decided in the end that the simplest route would probably be the best way to way it. "I'm doing this on my own. I go alone."

**(End POV)**

"Why Riku? The King asked. Riku shook his head before turning and walking the opposite way that the King had planned on them going together. The King paused, watching as Riku grew smaller and smaller into the distance, journeying deepere and deeper into the heart of the darkness, his bright and shining silver hair the only thing the King could now see of him.

"I promise I will be fine and that I will see you again!" Riku called back to the King, still running away from the King, waving back at him. "I promise!"

The King paused again for just a moment, unsure of what to do. Riku would need someone to help him remember that he could fight the darkness in his heart. After that moment however, he turned and walked away - the opposite way that Riku had gone, deciding to respect Riku's decision, even if it seem a little stupid to the King.

Riku had gone quite far into the darkness by then, not knowine exactly where he was going but unable to stop his gruelingly fast pace. It was a pointless task, but Riku kept it up anyway. He had to find his way back into the realm of light and back to the one he lovedd, even if it killed him.

**(Riku POV)**

I journeyed farther, growing more and more exhausted until I thought I could go no farther and that my legs would surely just give out from under me in protest of the strain I had them working under. The realm of darkness was a lot bigger than I had ever thought it would be. It seemed to extend out in every direction, going on and on forever.

"My legs feel like lead." I oaned, slowing my pace but continuing to shuffle my feet forward. I hung my head, strands of my sliver hair falling into my face, my arms hanging dwon limply at my sides.

THUMP!

I looked up from where I had fallen, lying sprawled on the cld ground, shaking the lover sliver strands of my hair out of my eyes in an attempt to see what had caused my abrupt fall. A rock or some other hard object had jutted up out of the path in front of my feet, causing me to stumble and fall. Lying there on the groung I gave into it all, all of it, giving up.

"I just wan to fade - fade into the drakness. I just want this to end!" I cried out to the darkness around me, knowing it was useless. If I had been going to fade, I would have already started to fade as I well knew. It just wasn't fair to me that I was destined to be alone forever in this terrible place, while Sora and Kairi had always had and would always have eah other to care for tand look after. I had no one to care about me, to worry about me as I suffered here alone. "Just let me fade already, no one would miss me! No one would care if I didn't come back to the realm of light."

Then something both wonderful and confusing happened. The face of a both beautiful and familiar girl flashed before my eyes. I knew her beautiful face so well, her soft feminine features, that pair of deep chocolate eyes that he had stared into so often that he had been caught doing so on some rare occasions, and her dazzling smile that melted his heart as if it was jsut for him that she smiled. She laughed gently, he nose wrinkling up cutely. Then it faded and all I could see was darkness again.

I struggled to my feet, thinking hard about whay an image of HER would come to me then, when I was so ready to give up. Then I realized what it had meant - SHE would miss me, how could I have been so blind! She had said she loved me after all, just beforewe had closed the door to the darkness, shutting the King and me behind it for everyone's sakes. She had stuck her hand desperately throught the closing door to take mine before it was too late. I remember I took iit, her small delicate hand into my much larger one, telling her not to worry, that Sora would take care of her and keep her safe from harm. She had smiled sadly and said it was me she was worried about and she had a feeling she would never see me again.

Then she had said it, just as Sora had pulled her away from the door, and the King had pulled me back so that it would not close on either of us. She had said the three small words to me that everyone waits to hear just once in their lives. She had told him 'I Love You.'

"I didn't even have time to tell her how I felt about her, about how much I loved her." I sighed, my long silver hair falling like a curtian over my eyes as they welled up with tears. "Now she will never know how much I cared for her."

There was a bright light that flashed suddenly before me, blinding me for a moment. I drew my hands in front of my eyes, shielding them from that retched light that seemed to fill the darkness around me like water being poured into an empty fishbowl.

"It is all right Riku, open your eyes. Do not be afraid."

It was a gentle voice, a sweet voice, a girl's voice...

"I know that voice!" I gasped, letting my hands fall away. I gagged slightly, unable to force myself to breath, so strange was the sight before my eyes. There in the darkness before me, surrounded by an eerie light - was Jessica.

**(End POV)**

There was Jessica in front of him, floating a few inches above the once black floor, wearing a plain floating, wispy white dress. She smiled down on him, streching her arms out, palms facing up as Riku spoke to her.

"Jessica, is it really you?" Riku asked urgently, a pleading note in his voice he had never heard there before, so great was his longing to see his love again. She shook her head, still smiling down at him. "Then what are you, and why do you look jst like her if you really aren't her?"

"I am a pigment of your imagination. Your heart called out to Jessica's heart and together they created me in the hopes that you wuld not give up. In a way, I am a part of Jessica, just as I am a part of you as well." The girl said. It irked Riku slightly that this image continued to use Jessica's voice and continue to look like her when he was so desperate and upset that he could never see her again or hear he glorious voice echo in his ears. "Do not give up Riku, you have a very special romise to keep. Or have you forgotten it?"

"Promise, to who? What promise do I have to keep?" Riku asked quickly, but the image of the girl he loved was already fading from his view. "No, don't go Jessica, I mean whoever you are, please!" It was too late.

"What promise do I have to keep and to whom did I make it?" Riku pondered, scrathcing his head thoughtfully. When he didn't remember right away, Riku sighed, continuing on his way through the deep darkness. After some tme he reached a dead end, bumping into somethign quite solid.

"A wall in the middle of nowhere?" Riku asked, running his hands along it. "I can use this to my advantage, if it really is just a wall." Riku wallked parrallel to the wall, letting his hand lazily run along it. To Riku, running along the wall and following it to where ever it led seemed smarter than wandering around following nothing into the cener of this accursed darkness. As he walked, Riku tried to remember the promise the girl usng Jessic'a voice had been hinting at. It was strange, but Riku could tell the memory he sought of the promise was just out of his reach, almost in his ability to overcome it but unable for him to latch onto. Placing his free hand in his pocket, he felt something hard against the palm of his hand, causing him to stop.

"What the heck is this?" Riku said, pulling an oddly shaped package out of his pocket. It was plainly wrapped in brown paper and a thin pink rbbon held it together. There on the package, scrawled in the corner of the paper was a note:

_To Riku - _

_I hope this will help you remeber me, just as the ring of your you gave me reminds me of you. I hope you like it and cherish it always. Think of it as a symbol of my love for you, for I do love you._

_Yours forever,_

_Jessica_

Riku gasped, untying the ribbon quickly and throwing away onto the ground. Shredding the paper, he unwrapped the small trinket inside. It was a keychain, much like the kind that Sora used to upgrade his own keyblade. Hanging down from the short sliver chain was an oval locket, tiny patterns traced on the front of it like leaves growing on spidly vines. Intrigued, Riku opened it. Staring up at him were two pictures he recognized immediatly. The one on the left was a picture of all of his friends from the island where he had grown up before he had abandoned it, letting in the darkness. The picture showed Sore, Kairi, Selphie, Tidus, and Wakka all grouped together, smiling broadly at the camera. Riku grew sad as he looked at the picture place in the right of the locket. It was a picture of Riku himself and Jessica, sitting side by side on the beach a sunset. In the picture, Riku had his arm around Jessica, his other hand holding hers tightly.

"We had this taken on her 14th birthday. We spent the whole day together, doing anything we could think of, just the two of us. We both wanted to remember that day forever, so Jessica had me set the timer on her camera so that we could freeze that beautiful moment in time we had shared together." Riku remembered, reaching out a shaking finger to touch the picture tenderly. Then, staring dwon at Jessica's face, Riku remembered the promise her had made - to her.

_Flashback_

Riku stared out his window at the night sky, nose pressed lazily against the glass. Looking across the small space his mother and father called a backyard, Riku gazed into the window across the small yard into the room just beyond the fence that showed where the cliff dropped off. His most precious friend and constant constant companion lived there, just beyond the glass of the other window he was even now thrying to look through to try and catch a small glance of.

Jessica lived in this house, in the room just across Riku's so that they could see the other through their curtains if they cared to look whenever they wanted to see the other. Riku opened his window, sticking his head out into the cool night air, the light breeze licking playfully at his exposed skin. He could see Jessica as she sat, brushing her long hair in front of the mirror he had helped her mount over her vanity. She looked up into the mirror suddenly, and seeing Riki in it smiled, rushing to open her own window.

"Hello Riku!" Jessica called, sticking her head out of her window to wave at his. Riku waved back, smiling. Jessica always seemed to know what he wanted, even when he stayed silent. Her birthday presents had always been his favorites and the ones he looked forward to the most. "Can I come over and visit my best friend, or is this a bad time?"

"Come on over, please!" Riku called back to her, opening his window all the way. When ever they wanted to see each other, all they had to do was climb down from their own window, Jessica from the ivy vines growing on the side of her house and Riku from the old oak tree outside his bedroom window, run across Riku's backyard, and climb up to the other person's window. Jessica climbed slowly out onto her window sill, standing precariously on the edge for a moment before beginning to climb down the vines.

Riku watched as she climbed down, not really paying any attention to her though. It was always like this. They had been sneaking out of their wndows to go visit eacch other for as long as Riku could remember them being friends, which had surely been forever it seemed to Riku.

This night was different however. Riku was brought out of his daydream by a snapping sound and a blood curdling shriek of terror. Looking wildly around his yard, Riku jumped out of his window, scurrying down the tree as quickly as he could force himself to go.

Jessica's hand had slipped when a vine had snapped under her feet, causing her to fall down the three stories of her house, landing onto the top of the fence, her stomach pressed painfully against it. She slid sideways, trying to fall into Riku's yard, but she slid the wrong way, and was now hanging onto the edge of the fence for dear life. Riku jumped out of the tree, rushng over to her. It was a steep drop down a cliff face nto the ocean from where she was hanging, and from the whiteness of her knuckles, Riku didn't think Jessica could hold on much longer.

"Jessica! Are you alright, say something please!" Riku scresmed, trying to look through the gaps in the fence posts to see if she was alright. She moaned slightly, trying to raise her head to look at them but failing, her head falling back down. "Hold on, I'll get you down!"

"No!" Jessica whispered to him in a strained voice. "Just leave me. If you climb up the vines, they will break all the way any you'll fall too! Go get help."

"No, I won't leave you like this!" Riku yelled, snatching up a vine. Riku climped up to where she was struggling to hold on, pulling her into his arms. Riku had always been taller and stronger than Jessica, being a year older and a boy, so this wasn't hard for him to do. Jessica wrapped her arms around his kneck, allowing her legs to dangle freely as he began to climb down the vines.Once Riku reached the ground, Jessica's arms fell from around his kneck and she fell into a heap on the cold ground. "Jessica!"

Riku knelt down eside her, pulling her up so that her head rested on his shoulder, his arms wrapped around her body, holding her close. She opened her eyes slowly, staring up teary eyed into his face, a pained look on her beautiful face. Staring up into his neon aqua green eyes, she reached up a hand to gently caress his face.

"Why did you stay to help me? Why didn't you just leave me and get help like I told you to?" She asked in a shaky voice. They had both been home alone that night, Riku's parents having gone on vacation over the long weekend while Jessica's parents had been away on a business trip to a close island.

"I said I wouldn't leave you." Riku said, taking her hand in his and gently squeezing it. "And I didn't, did I? I never will."

"You promise Riku?" She asked. "Do you promise you'll never leave me?" Riku nodded, picked her up, and carried her into his house so that she could sleep and rest her bruised and exhausted body.

"I promise." Riku said quietly, setting her down on his couch, pullling a warm wool blanket over her trembling body. "I promise you Jessica, I will always take care of you and never leave you, especially when you need me. I'll always be there for you if you need me."

_End Flashback. _

"That's it!" Riku shouted into the darkness, hitting himself roughly in the forehead with his fist out of frustration. "That's the promise I made to Jessica! I had forgotten all about it, and that night."

"Remembered, have you?' It was the Jessica impersonator again, standing just behind him. She laughed sweetly as he spun around to face her, smile painted on his face when he saw it was indeed her mirage again.

"Yes, I have." Riku said, nodding. "I promised Jessica I would -" Riku began, but the voice cut him off.

"I know the promise you made Riku, but you needed to remember it for yourself, without my help." The girl said smiling. But then she became suddenly serious. "She needs you Riku, you must go to her befor eit's too late. Diz will help you, you must find him before it's too late!"

"I will, I'll go to her and help her and -" Riku said, but paused suddenly. "How do I get out of here to help her? She's in the realm of light."

"Do you still have the keychain that our hearts made using you and Jessica's memories of each other and of the other children on the island?" The girl asked, and Riku nodded. "Good. Simply summon your keyblade, attach the keychain to the loop on the handle, and you will receive a marvelous weapon with the power to help you escape from the realm of darkness."

Riku did as he was told, summoning his keyblade and attaching the keychain with trembling fingers. When he had finished, nothing happened.

"Believe with your heart Riku, and the power will come to you. Believe that she loves you, believe in her and your love for her Riku!" The voice said, circling around Riku as it spoke.

**(Riku POV)**

I closed my eyes, thinking that it might have been a bad idead to follow this voice after all. It looked like Jessica, but it wasn't her and it was ridiculous to have thought for one second on my part that it was it had really been the love of his life, here in the realm of darkness with him when he had watched her get torn away from him and kept in the safe realm of light. How would she have gotten into the realm of darkness for instance. That was the thing, she couldn't have. I had been so stupid to think it was really her.

"Believe Riku, or it won't work!" The voice commanded. Banishing the thoughts of 'this is so stupid' and 'I look like an idiot' that had just popped into his brain, I concentrated hard on the image of Jessica still floating before my eyes.

"I love you!" I whispered to it, knowing there was no way the real Jessica could hear me, as far away as she was, but that didn't stop me from saying it again, even louder so that I was shouting it into the darkness around me. "I LOVE YOU JESSICA!"

There was a bright light, strong enough to make me pull my arms protectively over my eyes even though I already had shut them. As the light dimmed, I opened my eyes. There in my hand was a magnificent weapon, shaped like a long wing with a handle, Jessica's keychian dangling from the end.

"This is the 'Way to the Dawn' Riku. And it is your keyblade, key to your escape from the realm of darkness to the realm of light where you belong with Jessica." The girl said. "Raise your blade and unlock your door to freedom!"

I nodded, still unsure of what to do. I raised it in front of me, hoping that something would happen. A light shot out of the end, causing the weapon to shudder violently. I clung on with both hands, praying that this girl who looked like my Jessica hadn't somehow tricked me into sealing my own fate somehow. As suddenly as it had sarted, the shuddering stopped. A huge silver door appeared before me, door shut. I walked toward it, reaching for the large, curved handles.

"Wait Riku, do not go just yet!" The girl called, causing me to turn away from the door. The girl looked sad, exactly like Jessica did when she was sad or upset. "You canuse this door to travel back to the realm of light and find Diz, but once you walk through that door, I will have to leave you. I can help you no more."

"Why?" I asked, surprised. She looked up at me with Jessica's large gorgeous eyes sadly, making my heart flip over.

"Well, the real Jessica is in the realm of light. You won't need me anymore." She said, looking down at the dark floor.

"Thank you, whoever you are." I said opening the door. " And I promise you I will find Jessica and take care of her, just like I promised. I'll fight for her, even if I have to die for her to keep her safe. I love her, and I think it's about time I told her." I rushed through the open door, brandishing my keyblade as I went. When the light faded, I found myself in a strange place I had never seen before. A street sign handling about me read 'Twilight Town.'

"Well then." I said, banishing my keyblade as not to scare anyone who came across he. "Let's go find Diz. the sooner I find him, the sooner I find out what's going on. And the sooner I get my Darling Jessica back!"

()()()()()Page break! Yay!

Okay, I fixed some grammer errors and some spelling errors! Good for me! Lol So if you liked this, the sequel I wrote is called 'A Love Rekindled' if you really like Jessica and Riku together. Please review!


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